"I don't know how to describe the men's behaviour towards us. They treated us like animals. As if we were scum," states Marina. Like thousands of others, she was lured into Greece by a respectable job offer, only to find herself forced into prostitution. "The first thing that every trafficker does is rape and beat his victim," explains psychologist Irina Gionis. The women are constantly abused before being sold on to brothels in other countries. "When I talk about a slave trade, I seriously mean a slave trade, like back in the 18th century," states aid worker Nikitas Kanakis. "Human beings who are sold sometime up to ten times, like commercial commodities." After years of ignoring the problem, Athens has recently stepped up efforts to target Mafia traffickers. But authorities admit that the problem can only be solved with international co-operation.